Seven in ten adults surveyed across 12 countries say society feels more divided than ever, according to From Ads to Zeitgeist, a global study on culture and advertising that Amazon Ads produced with Crowd DNA, a cultural insights and strategy consultancy. The study argues that brands can "shape - not just react to - culture by communicating shared values and empowering consumers to express themselves," according to Amazon Ads.

Neither the report nor the page on Amazon Ads' UK site that hosts it carries a publication date. The survey behind it was fielded between December 2023 and February 2024 among 21,600 adults aged 18 to 64, with 1,800 respondents in each of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US. The report also refers to podcast award wins "in 2024", so its text was written no earlier than that year.

The headline numbers are global aggregates. The country tables at the back of the report tell a less uniform story. On eight of the nine statements about what brands and advertising do, every one of the five European markets in the sample sits below the global figure. Japan records the lowest share on 16 of the 20 statements in the tables. The United Arab Emirates is highest, or joint highest, on 13.

In Short

Amazon asked about 21,600 adults in 12 countries how they feel about culture, belonging and ads, and most said society feels split and that they want more connection. Amazon uses the answers to argue that brands, including those advertising on its own video, streaming and music services, can help bring people together. But people in Europe and Japan agreed with the positive statements about ads much less often than people in Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, so the global averages hide big differences between countries.

What Amazon Ads measured

The report describes five research strands. Desk research and what it calls "backcasting" were used to identify emerging cultural shifts through analysis of major global "cultural" moments. One-to-one interviews with six marketing experts provided views on "the trajectory of advertising and culture." A semiotic analysis of advertising set out to explain "why certain advertising has had more cultural impact than others." The consumer survey of 21,600 respondents supplied what Amazon Ads calls "robust, data-led evidence." Finally, eight group interviews with 30 consumers added qualitative depth, according to the report's methodology section.

The survey was conducted online. Generational data was weighted to be nationally representative within each country, according to the methodology. The report defines four age groups by the age a respondent had reached at the time: adult Gen Z (18-26), Millennials (27-42), Gen X (43-58) and what it calls Younger Boomers (59-64). Because the sample stops at 64, the "Boomers" in the report's charts cover only the youngest six birth years of that generation.

The global figures are described as the 12 markets "aggregated." The report does not say whether countries are weighted by population. A PPC Land check of the appendix found that on 17 of the 20 statements, the global figure is within one percentage point of a simple average of the 12 country figures. That points to equal weighting, which would give the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia the same weight in the global number as the United States or Germany.

Several elements common in published survey research are absent. The report does not name the panel provider, give a margin of error, show the response scale behind "agree", or state the sample sizes of the subgroups it quotes, such as monthly streaming TV viewers, livestream watchers and streaming audio listeners.

The report quotes five named industry figures. Two work for Amazon: Kate McCagg, head of Brand Innovation Lab at Amazon Ads, and Kelley Walton, global head of brand and integrated marketing at Amazon Music. The other three are Kate Scott-Dawkins, identified as global president of business intelligence at GroupM; Michael Bernardoni, global head of media creativity at OMD Worldwide; and Diana Pérez Ballantyne, general manager of La Roche Posay and CeraVe Mexico. The report does not say whether these five are among the six experts interviewed for the study.

A divided baseline

The study opens with a picture of fragmentation. "With so much of daily life experienced online, singular moments of culture that everyone can experience have given way to smaller and faster moving bubbles of digital culture," according to the report.

Seventy percent of respondents say society feels more divided than ever. Two-thirds, 66%, want a greater sense of belonging and community. The desire for belonging is strongest among the young: 70% of adult Gen Z and 70% of Millennials, against 62% of Gen X and 58% of Younger Boomers. A similar pattern appears for finding commonalities with others, which 70% of Gen Z, 71% of Millennials, 66% of Gen X and 58% of Younger Boomers rate as important, for a total of 68%.

The country tables show how much those totals compress. In Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, 87% want a greater sense of belonging. In France the figure is 40%. In Japan it is 30%. Brazil records the highest share saying society is more divided than ever, at 81%; Japan the lowest, at 58%.

Two other numbers stand out. The highest-scoring of the 20 statements in the country tables is "I want the freedom to think and express myself freely without being judged," at 83% globally and 92% in Brazil. And slightly more respondents, 71%, say they are "actively pursuing the mission of finding commonalities with others" than say finding commonalities is important (68%). The report does not comment on that gap.

Focus group participants are quoted by first name and country. "Everything can feel very detached today. More than ever, it's important to show you belong to a group. Brands can help with this: to create something for people to belong to," said Karim, from Germany. James, from the US, said: "It's hard for people to truly identify with a common cause and feel like they belong. I think that's why people are turning to mainstream culture again - it's a function of belonging." Grace, from Canada, said: "Culture is meant to be shared. I think we lost a bit of this, but since COVID, things are bouncing back." Nagore, from Spain, linked the point directly to purchasing: "We show our common values through the brands we buy."

Scott-Dawkins framed the fragmentation in media terms. "There has been increasing atomization of culture - everyone getting a more fragmented, personalized feed. In response, what we are seeing is the outsize importance of things like live sports, the draw of the Barbie movie, or the Taylor Swift concert tour - the few places now where people can feel like they're doing, seeing, and feeling something together," she said in the report. "For brands, tapping into those places where people are still watching the same thing - sports, big cultural movements, media events - is increasingly important."

What the survey says about brands

From that baseline, the report moves to its central argument: that brands can create culture rather than chase it. "Instead of chasing fast-moving trends, resulting in transitory and surface-level connections with consumers, brands have the opportunity to help create culture through the values that they communicate," according to the report.

The supporting figure for that argument has three versions. The body of the report says 72% of respondents agree that advertising is an important way for brands to communicate their values. The appendix table for the same statement gives a global figure of 66%. A simple average of the 12 country figures in that table, calculated by PPC Land, comes to 70%. The report does not explain the difference. Country results for the statement range from 59% in France to 88% in Brazil.

According to the report, "6 in 10" respondents agree that brands create communities and bring people together; the appendix puts it at 59%. Sixty-three percent agree that brands create shared experiences for people, with a generational split of 65% for Gen Z, 67% for Millennials, 60% for Gen X and 49% for Younger Boomers.

The report's introduction also states that "63% of survey respondents" agree "that advertising has the power to shape and create culture." That statement does not appear among the 20 statements in the appendix tables, so its country breakdown is not available.

The report then takes aim at measurement habits. "While clicks and impressions help brands meet many of their goals, focusing solely on these metrics ignores the cultural impact brands can have, and reinforces a transactional one-way relationship from which customers are shying away," according to the report. It does not propose an alternative metric.

McCagg described the distinction Amazon Ads draws. "The brands that succeed are those that know who they are. They're not trying to fit in with different crowds. They have an authenticity that is not trend-driven - but is driven by asking, 'What do we stand for?' and 'Where does what we stand for fit in to the conversation that's happening today?'" she said. "There's a real difference between brands that are true players in culture vs. brands that are trying to jump on a cultural bandwagon in order to be seen."

The report groups its findings into three trends, which it calls "centers of inspiration," "democratized creativity" and "new escapism." Each section follows the same structure: survey figures, an expert quote, a panel headed "Across the Amazon universe" that points to an Amazon property, a list of recommended actions, and a campaign Amazon Ads worked on.

Centers of inspiration

The first trend describes a culture in which more regions shape global tastes. "Just look at the worldwide dominance of K-pop in recent years," the report notes, adding that regions such as East Asia and Latin America are "making their presence felt across the world."

About seven in ten respondents, 71% in the appendix, want to see more genuine, real stories in the media that reflect different cultures. Sixty-one percent would like a greater variety of countries respected for their contributions to culture, and 55% agree that brands help raise awareness of global issues and topics.

Younger respondents are again more receptive. Fifty-nine percent of Gen Z and 61% of Millennials agree that brands help people learn more about other cultures, compared with 42% of Younger Boomers; the total is 56%. For advertising specifically, the figures are 53% for Gen Z, 58% for Millennials, 49% for Gen X and 38% for Younger Boomers, with a total of 53%.

There is a second internal inconsistency here. The generational chart for "I think it's important to see more representation of mixed or second-generation culture" shows a total of 58%. The appendix gives 62% for the same statement.

Among monthly streaming TV viewers, 72% say it is important to learn about and be exposed to different cultures from around the world. The report uses that figure to introduce Prime Video, which it describes as a place where "brands can engage millions of viewers," though it gives no audience figure.

Pérez Ballantyne, the La Roche Posay and CeraVe executive, said inclusivity had become a commercial requirement. "Icons, endorsements, and celebrities from different nations are more accepted globally than 10 or 20 years ago. The standards of beauty have changed, and inclusivity is a requirement now to be able to connect with consumers around the world," she said. "This helps brands because it opens the possibility of generating a larger penetration with a wide array of audiences vs. niche markets."

The report's recommendations for this trend include emphasizing "the backstories of real people and creators," breaking down stereotypes, and inclusive hiring. It refers brands to the Amazon Studios CCDEIA Inclusion Playbook.

The campaign attached to the trend is Under Armour's "Protect This House," which reimagined the brand's old rallying cry. The sportswear company worked with Minnesota Vikings player Justin Jefferson and producer London On Da Track, who released a new chant. A hero film featuring Jefferson premiered on Prime Video during a live football game, with further placements on Twitch and Amazon Music. According to the report, the campaign "helped the sportswear brand drive a lift in brand awareness and brand affinity among adults ages 18 to 34." No figures are given.

Amazon has since made a regional content commitment of its own. In August 2026, Prime Video pledged more than $2 billion for Latin American content between 2027 and 2030 across Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

Democratized creativity

The second trend concerns fans and creators. "Digital culture has eroded the old hierarchies," according to Amazon Ads' web page for the study. "More and more, bottom-up fan power is becoming an undeniable force in setting the cultural agenda."

Sixty-two percent of respondents agree that advertising sparks consumers' creativity, and 62% agree that advertising should enable creative interactions. The report rounds these to "nearly 2 in 3"; the web page goes further and describes the second figure as "About 2 in 3 consumers." The report also states that "over half" of respondents agree that brands actively involve their customers in creating something new, but no figure for that statement appears in the tables.

The report draws on the reach of franchises such as The Lord of the Rings, which it cites as an example of "expansive universes of intellectual property" that fans explore across media. Amazon's own series in that universe returns for its third season on November 11, 2026, when Rings of Power season 3 arrives on Prime Video with its first four episodes.

Among respondents who watch livestreams, 69% believe brands create shared experiences for people, and three in five believe they have "a lot to contribute to the content created and shared online today." The report presents these figures alongside Amazon Live and Twitch. It describes Twitch as "the leading global livestreaming service," with an average of 35 million daily users, "nearly 70% of whom are between the ages 18 and 34." The report gives neither a source nor a date for that figure.

Twitch's audience figures have been contested since. After Twitch's enhanced viewbot detection went live on August 21, 2025, third-party analytics showed viewership 24% below the previous week, figures Twitch said were incorrect. In May 2026, Amazon's advertising chief Alan Moss put Twitch's global audience at more than 105 million viewers, on a podcast in which he described Prime Video and live sports as one business. That is a different measure from daily users, and the two cannot be compared directly.

Walton, of Amazon Music, argued for a different relationship with creators. "It's important that brands learn how to co-create with creators as equal partners, as opposed to saying you have to do it our way - and not really listening to the input of the creators they're bringing to the table," she said. "That's how brands can play in the cultural space, and bring something to the consumer that the consumer really wants."

The report's recommendations for this trend tell brands to work with creators, whose ties to their communities offer what the report calls a potential halo effect for the brand, and to use livestream chat features to answer questions and welcome new viewers. That emphasis sits within a growing creator economy: the IAB projects US creator ad spend at $44 billion for 2026, up from $29.5 billion in 2024.

The case study is YSL Beauty's launch of Black Opium Le Parfum, aimed at what the report calls "a growing audience of women gamers." A series of branded Twitch livestreams, each led by a streamer from France, Germany, Spain or the UK, took viewers through a custom Minecraft adventure in which they crafted tools, solved puzzles and found the perfume bottle in a hidden vault. The streamers then unboxed the product live. According to the report, the program "helped drive awareness, favorability, and intent to purchase for Black Opium." Again, no numbers are published.

New escapism

The third trend is a reaction against reboots. "In a period of nostalgia overload, we are beginning to seek out more original and 'real' culture and ideas," according to the report, which describes "a swing toward the surreal, the random, and the serendipitous."

Sixty-two percent of respondents say they are looking for the creation of more original content. Fifty-eight percent say it is important to see the "weirdness" and real personalities of people represented in culture. Seventy-three percent say they enjoy advertising that entertains them, the highest score among the statements about advertising. And 65% say they prefer to discover new products and have new experiences rather than stick to the familiar.

Japan is the clearest outlier on this trend: 27% of Japanese respondents value seeing "weirdness" in culture, 34% want more original content and 37% prefer new products to familiar ones.

Among streaming audio listeners, 78% seek out ways to access new and interesting content, and three in five prefer new products and experiences to familiar ones. The report uses these figures to introduce Wondery, Amazon's podcast network, which it says has "15+ award wins in 2024 and over 55 #1 hits globally," and the ad-supported tier of Amazon Music.

Bernardoni, of OMD Worldwide, said differentiation was the main requirement. "The key to standing out in today's saturated market is 'differentiation' - consumers crave novel and innovative ways to connect with brands, showing a strong preference for creative storytelling and collaborations that rejuvenate their relationship with their favorite brands and products in ways that are both surprising and unexpected," he said.

The report recommends unusual collaborations, new aesthetic directions that "disrupt the category," and a "more down-to-earth and humorous tone of voice." Its example is Pepsi MAX's "Better with Pepsi MAX" campaign, a continuation of the "Thirsty for More" brand campaign. The campaign paired Pepsi MAX with KFC and with Jungle Creations' Twisted, whose social content series with food personality Big Zuu offered 15-minute meals to make during football half-time, such as an Ultimate Chicken Tikka & Chips Sandwich. Viewers could buy the ingredients through a custom hub built by Amazon Ads' Brand Innovation Lab. The report describes the result in qualitative terms only.

Europe and Japan sit below the global line

For European advertisers, the country tables matter more than the global headlines. On eight of the nine statements about brands and advertising, the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain all fall below the global figure. The ninth, on brands raising awareness of global issues, is the exception only because the UK, at 56%, sits one point above the 55% global figure.

Statement (% agreeing) Global US UK Germany France Italy Spain Japan UAE
Brands create communities and bring people together 59 63 53 50 51 50 53 48 78
Advertising is an important way for brands to communicate their values 66 68 61 60 59 62 61 62 86
Brands create shared experiences for people 63 68 58 50 49 53 57 44 80
Brands help people learn more about other cultures 56 61 52 40 40 45 50 35 78
Advertising helps people learn more about other cultures 53 60 43 33 36 41 46 34 77
Advertising sparks consumers' creativity 62 64 51 47 43 55 58 54 81
Advertising should enable creative interactions 62 64 54 50 50 57 55 35 82
I enjoy advertising that entertains me 73 74 68 63 62 70 70 66 83

The widest gap is on whether advertising helps people learn about other cultures. Only a third of German respondents, 33%, agree, the lowest of any market. A simple average of the five European markets, calculated by PPC Land, comes to about 40%. The same calculation for Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates gives about 73%. Because the global figures appear to weight each market equally, those four markets lift the global averages that Amazon Ads quotes on its web page and in the report's main text.

France stands out on creativity. Forty-three percent of French respondents agree that advertising sparks consumers' creativity, the lowest of the 12 markets, and 40% want a greater sense of belonging, the second lowest after Japan. The UK trails the global figure on all eight as well, by between four and eleven points.

Japan sits lower still on most measures. It records the lowest share on 16 of the 20 statements, including 30% for wanting a greater sense of belonging, 35% for advertising enabling creative interactions and 44% for brands creating shared experiences. The pattern suggests that the study's three trends describe attitudes that vary sharply from market to market, rather than a single global shift. The report itself does not discuss country differences.

Case studies without numbers

All four campaigns in the report were run with Amazon Ads, and none comes with a published metric. The report credits Under Armour's campaign with a "lift in brand awareness and brand affinity" and says YSL Beauty's program "helped drive awareness, favorability, and intent to purchase"; the entries for The Sims and Pepsi MAX describe execution only.

The Sims entry describes "Not Creative," a three-episode documentary-style series aimed at adult Gen Z. It followed Amanda, a young creator searching for her creative spark, who was mentored by an interior designer, a musician and a graphic artist who had found theirs through the game. The campaign ran across Fire TV, Twitch, Alexa "and more," according to the report.

The absence of figures contrasts with Amazon's other published research. In January 2025, Amazon published a meta-analysis of more than 3,000 brand lift measurements, which reported that combining display with video produced 2.2 times the brand awareness of video alone. From Ads to Zeitgeist makes a different kind of argument, about cultural relevance rather than measured uplift, and it does not attempt to connect the two.

What has changed since the fieldwork

The survey closed in February 2024. Several things about the Amazon properties it promotes have changed since.

Prime Video's advertising business was weeks old when fieldwork ended. Amazon began showing ads in Prime Video in the US in January 2024, adding an AVOD layer to a subscription service, with about 115 million estimated monthly US viewers at launch. By the fourth quarter of 2025, Amazon was reporting an average ad-supported Prime Video audience of 315 million worldwide.

Amazon's advertising revenue has kept growing, though more slowly in the latest quarter. Amazon reported third-quarter 2026 advertising revenue of $19.64 billion, up 10.9%, down from 26% growth in the second quarter, which the company attributed to the timing of Prime Day.

The report's expert voices have also moved on. Scott-Dawkins, listed in the report under GroupM, authored WPP Media's June 2026 forecast of $1.3 trillion in global ad revenue as global president of business intelligence at WPP Media.

Why this matters for marketers

From Ads to Zeitgeist is research published by a company that sells the media it recommends. Its "Across the Amazon universe" panels and its four case studies all point to Amazon inventory: Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV, Alexa, Amazon Live, Amazon Music and Wondery. The report closes with a call to "Learn more about how Amazon Ads helps brands share their messages with audiences." That does not make the survey data wrong, but it shapes what the report chooses to emphasize.

The study fits a wider effort by Amazon to sell brand-building inventory alongside the sponsored ads that sit next to its product listings. Amazon's 2026 upfront pitch grouped premium streaming, podcasts, audio and Twitch around its authenticated audience data. The report's central claim, that brands should invest in culture and not only in clicks and impressions, matches the products Amazon has added to that portfolio since 2024, from Prime Video ads to NBA coverage. Platform-commissioned research has followed a similar pattern elsewhere: Google's YouTube creator marketing study with Kantar, for instance, made the case for its own creator inventory.

For media planners, the most useful part of the report may be the appendix rather than the trends. Twenty statements broken down across 12 markets show how unevenly a culture-led message lands. In Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the US, between 60% and 77% of respondents agree that advertising helps people learn about other cultures. In France, Japan and Germany, 36%, 34% and 33% do.

What the report does not establish matters as much. It offers no link between the attitudes it measures and any business outcome, no effect sizes for its case studies, and no data newer than February 2024. Its strongest numbers describe what people say they want from culture. Whether advertising can supply that is the question the study poses, not one it answers.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Amazon Ads, working with the cultural insights consultancy Crowd DNA, surveyed 21,600 adults aged 18 to 64. The report quotes Kate McCagg of Amazon Ads, Kelley Walton of Amazon Music, Kate Scott-Dawkins (then of GroupM), Michael Bernardoni of OMD Worldwide and Diana Pérez Ballantyne of La Roche Posay and CeraVe Mexico, and features campaigns by Under Armour, YSL Beauty, The Sims and Pepsi MAX.

What: From Ads to Zeitgeist is a global study arguing that brands can shape culture through shared values and creative participation. It reports that 70% of respondents say society feels more divided than ever, 66% want more belonging and 73% enjoy advertising that entertains them, and it identifies three trends: centers of inspiration, democratized creativity and new escapism. Its country tables show the five European markets below the global figure on eight of nine statements about brands and advertising, with Japan lowest on 16 of 20 statements. The report also contains inconsistent figures for two statements and publishes no metrics for its case studies.

When: The survey was fielded from December 2023 to February 2024. The report and its web page carry no publication date; the report cites Wondery awards from 2024.

Where: Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US, with 1,800 respondents per country. The report is hosted on Amazon Ads' UK site.

Why: Amazon is selling brand-building inventory across Prime Video, Twitch, Fire TV, Amazon Music and its podcasts, and the study supplies an argument for culture-led advertising on those channels. For marketers, its most practical value is the market-by-market data, which shows that agreement with the study's claims about advertising varies widely by country and is lowest in Europe and Japan.